joe torre curries favor with a dodger fan

i am a steve garvey fan, but for now, i find joe torre's attempt to own the dodgers a tad more appealing.  that is because i can be bought.  sure garvey has returned my ttm requests, but his partner in the dodger ownership endeavor, orel hershiser, has left me 0 for 2.  well, as of christmas eve, i am 1 for 2 with joe torre.

i sent him a couple of cards c/o the dodgers way back in 2009 when he was still managing the club.  reader and dodger auto hound had told me that torre was a pretty good signer some days (in person) but he wasn't too sure about ttm.  sure enough, i have not seen those cards since.

then last season, with torre essentially replacing bob watson in the mlb offices, i sent a couple more cards, this time to new york.  i was hoping torre would follow watson's lead and sign the cards and maybe even include his business card.  about 6 months later, i received them in the mail.

here's his 2009 topps card

and his 1978 topps card

bookends to his managerial career, actually.  that's pretty cool.

it's also cool because it means that i now have an autographed card from every dodger manager from walter alston to don mattingly.  i'll have to get a post together sometime.  in the meantime, i'll wait for the bulldog to sway my non-existent vote.

thanks joe!